A man and a woman and a blackbird
by GoddessofRoyalty
Summary: Prompt: AUs where Padme and Obi-Wan end up both trapped at Anakin's whim and have to support each other


**Prompt:**

 **I really love Mustafar AUs where Padme and Obi-Wan end up both trapped at Anakin's whim and have to support each other, and I'd like to see fic that gets into how weird that relationship is, since most of their friendship up to then has been based on him ignoring her. And she has every reason to resent him stowing away, and I'd prefer you to take her anger seriously, but on the other hand, what's the point of taking it out on this poor honorable idiot when Anakin is raping him every night in the next room over? Which isn't even starting on her feelings on that.**

 **So yeah anything with that, but also I had this mental image of Anakin's paranoia about them cheating on him/conspiring against him manifesting as him forcing them to have sex under his direction, so that he can "know what it is they do to each other alone," even though they've never felt that way towards each other.**

 **Another bonus would be if Padme has very mixed feelings on the children after they're born, but Obi-Wan totally throws himself into caring for them, which Anakin encourages as a binding-them-together deal, and it's fluffy but also... fucked up...**

 **AN:**

 **So this has actually been on my computer finished (and edited) for ages I just couldn't find the right title. The title I ended up using is from "Thirteen ways of looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens. The poem itself has NOTHING to do with what this fic is about but the line really stuck with me and well… I like the new meaning I gave it.**

 **Also I'm aware that the prompt is nearly longer then the fic itself, but this ended up being probably as close to poetry as I'll ever write so short was what I wanted from it.**

 **Oh and the comment re the twins isn't a slur against children; babies are selfish creatures, that isn't a bad thing**

 **Pairings: Anakin/Obi Wan; Anakin/Padme; Obi Wan/Padme (the least obvious)**

 **Warnings: rape (of varying levels of impliedness), voyeurism (while forcing two people to have sex), and postpartum depression**

She can only really tell that it is happening after the worst nights. The nights after Anakin (no – Darth Vader – the man is no longer her husband no matter the face he wears) received bad news or has had to take part in something he does not want to deal with.

(Slavery. Obi Wan tells her one day during a broken conversation of information sharing. Slavery is one of the triggers for his worst tempers.)

For the most part Obi Wan tries to hide it. Tries to keep a brave face and act like nothing is wrong if only for the twins' sake. Tries to still be the serious powerful Jedi Master even after everything that has happened.

(There are no Jedi left. Anakin killed them all. Killed children. Tracked down those that managed to escape and killed them as well. Obi Wan is the only one left and Anakin ensured to break him of the last of his vows.)

The worst nights leave marks that cannot be hidden. The ones where Anakin is in his worst tempers and apparently happy to take it out on those he claims to love. He leaves bruises that cannot be hidden beneath robes. Bites on neck and face that go through the full range of colours as they heal. There's the limp as well, tell-tale no matter how Obi Wan tries to hide it. And he does. He spends most of the days after seated on the couch (despite the fact that clearly pains him too), happy to accept the twins when given to him but unusually reluctant to get up to their crying. Then there's his lips: bright red and torn.

(Obi Wan tries to muffle his screams. She knows this. Anakin never hides his noises but Obi Wan will do anything to stop the sounds escaping his mouth as his former Padawan forces submission out of him. Probably to try and hide it from the children. To try and decrease both their and their mother's distress.)

He clearly wants to suffer in silence. To not acknowledge what is going on behind closed doors. To act as if everything is fine and Anakin is still Anakin and not the monster that is Darth Vader. Darth Vader who takes what he wants even if the other party is not willing.

(She wonders if there are nights where he is willing. Nights where Anakin is Anakin and capable of the gentle, generous touches that her husband used to be made of. Nights where Darth Vader seems to have never existed and it is too easy to just pretend and enjoy for a moment. She certainly has.)

Part of her wants to let him suffer in silence or worse, wants to yell at him for everything. He's the reason her husband is like this now. He pushed him too far. Fuelled his jealously and turned it from a spark into an all-consuming flame.

(And they were both consumed by it, both that original night and the one that came to follow months after. The one where, so convinced an affair was happening, he wanted to watch it play out like a sick masochistic voyeur.)

Another part of her knows her anger is pointless. Obi Wan isn't the only one responsible for what her husband has become (and that is even if you disregard the obvious other source and current Emperor of the Galaxy). Yelling at him will get her nothing. She has no real use for his apologies unless they come with the ability to go back and change it all.

(Plus Obi Wan loves the twins unconditionally. He gives himself to them in a way that she – their own mother – cannot. He seems to see their father's light in them while she can only see his darkness in their selfishness.)

She doesn't know what to do those mornings after the worse nights (or really any morning at all). Doesn't know the right way to approach him or the situation. Doesn't know if she should try and talk to him about it (share their miseries) or pretend it all doesn't exist. Pretend that they are all a happy family or try and find a solution to the darkness together.

(The result is awkward stilted conversations. Piece of information they believe the other should know attempted to be made soft while still brutally honest.)

So she sits and watches as he winces at every shift. Watches him cradle Luke and mutter pointless words down at her son to make the baby smile. She watches and tries to find the cues to how she should react. She used to be good at that, reading social situations and knowing the conventions of how she should handle it. Now it seems that is a skill she has lost.

(She has lost a lot of things. They both have).


End file.
